raised hand: medium skin tone
Unicode: 270B 1F3FD
Description
A person with hands pressed together in a prayer-like gesture. The combination with 1F3FD indicates medium skin tone. The gesture often conveys pleading, prayer, thanks, or a high-five.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-open
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Conveys gratitude, thankfulness, prayer, hope, respect, or a polite request. Can also be used to signify a high-five or a 'namaste' gesture.
Backstory
The folded hands emoji (270B) was approved as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010. The skin tone modifier (1F3FD) was added later as part of Unicode 8.0 in 2015, allowing for diverse racial representation of the emoji. Its origin is debated, with some seeing it as a prayer gesture and others as a high-five, leading to its dual interpretations.
Usage Examples
- Expressing thanks: 'Thank you so much! 🙏🏽'
- Praying for something: 'Praying for good news! 🙏🏽'
- Making a polite request: 'Could you please help me? 🙏🏽'
- Giving a high-five: 'Great job! 🙏🏽'
- Saying Namaste: 'Namaste 🙏🏽'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Commonly interpreted as praying, expressing gratitude, or pleading. Also widely used as a high-five emoji.
East Asian culture:
Often interpreted as praying, bowing in respect, or expressing gratitude, particularly in Japan where it is a common bowing gesture (dogeza).